» Girl Gang AssembleKate Nash

Girl Gang Assemble

August 15, 2014

I recently stayed up for 36 hours straight thinking. I couldn’t sleep. I’ve been driven mad by boys, by politics, by media blackouts, by sexism, racism and homophobia.

I came to this realisation that I hadn’t got stuck into politics for a long time. I live in LA without my mum and without Sam Duckworth. My 2 main sources of politics/news/opinons and my favourite people to talk to for hours about the world and war and injustices and the government. Without them I’ve grown lazy, uninformed and ignorant. These are not traits that I like or ever wanted for myself. I’ve grown lazy because I’d rather look at pretty pictures of cool stuff than read about gaza, or I can’t finish a book because I’m used to information in 140 characters these days. Well I realised this about myself and decided to change that. This is not the kind of grown up I want to be. I want to be informed and I want to be part of inciting change and fighting injustices. I can’t do that if my area of expertise is cute youtube videos or cool girls on instagram.

So I started by using the internet to inform and empower myself. I started reading up on iraq, on ISIS, israel and palestine and most recently ferguson. I know this stuff seems totally overwhelming. But this is why it’s totally important and in my opinion why we need to start taking more action…

We come from quite a privileged generation. We don’t really HAVE to fight for stuff because it’s like our parents did that. and some cool shit happened in the 90s and now we can like express ourselves sexually and run our own blogs, start our own business and if we’re really lucky then the shit that we don’t like or want to change, isn’t actually affecting us day to day, like i mean we have to pay our bills, go to work, take the dog to the vet, meet up with an old school friend, call our nans, like it’s not affecting us to the degree where it disables us from living our everyday lives, (IF WE’RE LUCKY) and we kind of push our politics to the side because we have shit to do and that’s totally understandable.

It’s a moving documentary about matt, a teenager who was violently beaten to death because he was gay, and it tells his story. During the trial, his parents fought to save the life of the kids that murdered him because they believed that they should live because matt didn’t. And that the circle of violence had to end somewhere and now his mother runs a charity and campaigns worldwide to “Replace Hate with Understanding, Compassion, & Acceptance”. It’s incredibly moving and stoic and inspiring. After watching the documentary I learned that there are 29 states in the US that you can be fired in for being gay. Did you know that? I didn’t bloody know that. A lot of people I tell that didn’t know it either. How did we not know this? Like why is this ok in 2014 and how come we didn’t bloody know this? Who’s doing anything about this?…You get my drift.

So I learnt that once there is a progression for a persecuted group, then often there is an aggressive reaction to that, like 2 steps forward one step back. We make progress, some ignorant prick is pissed about that, doesn’t like change, feels threatened and reacts violently.

In the past week watching the things spiral out of control in fergurson, hearing that another unarmed black teenager has been murdered by the police is almost too much to take in. Is this shit still happening? Why is it happening? Why is murder ok if it’s done by a cop and to a black kid? Why are reporters being kicked out of this town and what the fuck can we actually do about it? Are we powerless here? The powers that be silence us with violence, they scare us. Or they have a media black out. When large groups of people try to make a stand about something they get ignored. Why did the riots in london start? because of the same thing, same issue. There is unrest, people are unhappy and we are sick of being unheard.

So like the first place that I go to now for information, a source of hope, humour, democracy and “the news if the news was true” is Russell Brands The Trews on youtube. It’s fun to watch, he is intelligent and believes in peace and spirituality and is incredibly intelligent but he still makes funny jabs at dickheads like Sean Hannarty, calling him the Ken doll from Toy Story 3. I would recommend watching one video everyday if you can, it is awesome and it is really helping me digest the news and all the crazy shit that’s happening in the world right now. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQfORmG9OUA

The other great thing about 2014 is the internet, twitter. As much as I fear it has bred laziness within me, if I get off my arse and educate myself and start reading books again, the awesome thing about twitter is that if there is a media blackout i can go on twitter and check out a hashtag, follow a journalist that is live tweeting from an actual riot, find a live blog. I can say fuck you to the media black out and check out a bunch of different sources with different perspectives and see what’s actually going on. The internet can empower me as much as I can let it dumb me down. I’ve realised it’s a choice. And that I can have my cake and eat it too. I can check out the ferguson hashtag, watch the trews, read the bbc and cnn website, see if any of my friends have posted any relevant links on Facebook and then watch a video of a bunny eating a raspberry to calm me down all whilst drinking my morning coffee. This is awesome.

So anyway my next thought process was like what can I do about this stuff? What is my area of expertise and how can I take action about things that I care about and can actually help with. I don’t want to do it alone, I’m powerless that way. I need a group of cool, passionate people who care and want to talk about serious shit but also use entertainment, creativity, storytelling and music to do it. Blend entertainment with reality, like Billy Bragg once told me “Get em with love songs”.

I’ve been working on the idea of girl and outsider empowerment “freaks hold hands” “girl gang” “kate nash’s rock n roll for girls after school music club” for a few years now so I want to grow this. I’ve been feeling lonely in LA, everyone drives cars, the roads are too big to walk on!! And I miss going down the pub to chew the fat and shoot the shit….talk about the world, get serious about stuff, then tell shit jokes, have a roast and hold each other in a circle singing along to journey. I want to create a forum, a support group, a collective out here. I want it to be a global thing too. So I am building and growing the idea of “Girl Gang” and I want to encourage you to do the same. This is not about sitting online and debating whether miley cyrus is a good or bad example for young girls, or whether shaving your pussy is a political or personal choice. I feel very lucky that I wake up every morning and don’t have to shave my toes, but I can if I want to. Yay for me! Thank you feminism, genuinely. But I feel unhappy that still so many girls are afraid of having a voice, they are encouraged to be silenced. You can still be fired for not sleeping with your boss, women still get paid less than men, there is still sexism in the workplace, we still look down on older women that don’t want to have kids, prostitutes are still criminalised and have no rights, women are still being body shamed in media, and beaten up in their homes feeling guilty for having provoked someone, raped and told they dressed like a slut. What can I do to change any of this?

I feel like it’s our responsibility together to start making noise, taking action. We need to have a more “fight it” attitude, get angry, make some waves, be loud. There’s absolutely been progression but we don’t want to take 2 steps forward and then 1 step back. I personally think our generation has sat back a bit, because we could, which is awesome, but let’s not let that slip!

I really believe if you want something and you don’t give up and work hard enough at it you can achieve it. There’s really big dreams that I have for the future of this foundation/company/idea, whatever you want to call it. But I can’t do it alone. I held a meeting in my garage last night and got together a bunch of cool girls. We went around the room introducing ourselves, telling each other what we do and discussed some issues that matter to us. This will start small, girls feeling like they have a community, feeling supported, helping each other out, becoming a real community and then we will try and figure out some serious stuff too and become a force. I am going to host a public Girl Gang meeting in LA in september, it will be an open meeting, anyone can come, including feminist boys. And I am asking you to create your own meetings, I would love if we could hold the public meeting together on the same date and share pictures and info about what happened and what we want to change. I just kind of feel it’s time.

So host your own girl gang meetings. Make a poster/ flag ask any girl or feminist guy you think is cool, wanna be friends, that wants to be part of it to come. Be inclusive, extend the friendship group, create a safe environment and be vulnerable with each other. Exchange emails and discuss what you do, what you want to do, what you need help doing and anything you feel passionately about, injustices, prejudices and things you want to change. We need to share information to find out what needs changing. Let’s inform each other. And please, I urge you, have a political opinion. Also read #GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso it is super inspiring too.

I will keep you updated on our weekly meetings and when the public meeting date is. And then I will appoint some of you that I know will be down for this to have your own public meeting on the same day as ours. You know who you are. Let’s get to it.

Ok over n out.

32 Comments

I will definitely attend this meeting. After having read Noam Chomsky’s latest book on Occupy Wallstreet I was felt encouraged to start and join a group – a movement! Please keep me posted, I will spread the word.

I am so excited for this. It’s going to be lovely. It’s going to be smart. It’s going to be everything great. So glad you are living at the same time as me, Kate. You are beautiful inside and out. Thank you.

Some of my best friends and myself started a very similar group from where I used to live (in a very small traditional town) we started writing zines and talking and not fucking shutting up and we even shed some light on a few people down the road. We wanted to give an open door to girls who needed to talk about things that were so unspoken and things that happened to them that were thought to be “not that bad” we even had panned to do a fundraiser and donate to Planned Parenthood. I am so excited to see such cool girls like you in other places! I just recently moved here to LA also and i’m so excited to see this happening. I hope to get to bump into you and share stories.

I love this idea. I go to an all girls school so maybe I can conduct some sort of large girlgang assembly meeting. Or make something optional as a club or something so only people who want to be there can be there. I love the idea and will definitely do something!

This is so inspiring. I’ve been feeling exactly like you described at the beginning of this post… I feel lazy and uneducated and like- well, what can I do about it? And I hate that about myself right now. I always told myself I wanted to make a difference but at some point I started telling myself that I don’t have that ability and then I started believing that. I need to retrain my mind and get out of the chair and do something. This sounds like a beautiful, encouraging idea. #girlgang

A guy supporting the girl-gang. Kate, you’re such an inspiration and while you may feel you’ve let things slide, you’re always someone I turn to when talking about modern, strong feminist role models. There are a horrific number of young girls ignoring politics & the world in general so hopefully this will make an impact. I teach teenagers & they needs to know where they live, why they live and, especially, that it’s the fault of the criminal & not the victim. So much love for this Miss Nash <3

So inspirational Kate! I am from New Zealand and would love to start up something here. I work in the film industry which is one of the most sexist industries I have ever been part of. I mean, if you wear lipstick you most as well just go sit behind a desk in the production office (no disrespect to those working in production offices, its a fucking full on job and you work your asses off) because there is no way in hell that the lighting or grip guys are going to take you seriously enough to let you near their gear even if lighting is why you wanted to work in film in the first place. I’m 19 and came from an all girls school, where I was never really exposed to sexism, but now after working in this industry, I’ve realised that the fight is not over and we have a long way to go before we are on an even playing field with the boys. I am currently working in an all girl production group, where we do everything! From camera to booking hotels for the actors and its the best thing I have ever been part of. Nothing is better than the feeling on set where we CAN just focus on doing our job well and not be worried about proving ourselves to the guys, because at the end of the day we have nothing to prove. We are awesome at what we do, so who gave the men the right to decide whether we were good enough? Who says they are allowed to take the piss out of us until we impress them enough for them to consider us as equal? So god damn frustrating! So would love to get part of this and maybe even make some filmmaking stuff here as we go along and grow!

Kate,this is amazing! you´re a intelligent Girl who likes to talk about polemics news,and that personality is not easy to found, at least in Brasil. I love this type of Girl and I would love talk witch you about politic,exism, racism etc … My dream is visit LA, this place is so fuckin amazing , someday I´ll still go to LA and I will meet you and also Katy Goodman,is so fuck beatifull and she rocks on bass,you too kate.
Love you and all the girl in girl gang,and please come to Brasil.

Oh man I love reading stuff like this. I’m a major fan of yours so your stuff is so often inspiring and I really really love this and your big dreams girl. That’s because I really believe motivated caring brave human beings working together actually seriously change history. Women have been underdogs for so long but it doesn’t have to be that way for any more centuries. No way. We need to wake up rise up and live life conscious and see the world around us and make that revolution happen. The arts across history have cut through bullshit. I just think commercialism n greed has tried to control that edge for decades now by pumping out n funding gushy factory songs with bullshit lyrics and wanky attitudes devoid of REAL edge – training brains to not think of anything outside of gush and buying shit. Its literally like training mice in cages. Politicized music is hard to find these days in popular scene. Yet it feels like the world is really crazy and quite scary right now. I totally support you in this and will watch for the updates. YOU WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE KATE NASH. I TOTALLY KNOW IT xxxxxx 🙂

I’ve been a long time fan and supporter. I’ve a piece of advice for you if you’re reading these messages. I feel that it may be worth your while to attempt to reach out to Joe Rogan of the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast since you’re residing in L.A.. As odd as it may seem, he holds many of your same values and opinions. Sharing your message on a forum such as his show would be a profound way to open up about your thoughts about injustices towards woman and homosexuals and whatever else you may want to discuss while reaching hundreds of thousands of listeners. Just a thought…

So happy that you are doing this. Had the amazing chance to meet and talk with girls and boys from Palestine, Iraq, and Lebanon, it’s heartbreaking and no one understands how important it is to truly acknowledge the things happening to our world. I would love to help anyway I can, I live in LA and would be so pleased to somehow join forces. Love for all.

Well I am very similar as I rarely watch the news or pay any attention to current affairs. Generally I find that the only people I can have conversations with are in their fifties as when I do bother I generally listen to radio 4. As I am ignorant to the world I probably offend others frequently when I am ranting, although my views are overtly liberal and open minded I have been dragged up and kicked out in a place where everyone else is ignorant racist and right wing. This has had an adverse effect on my life so I have a lot of hatred. So I am kinda left but quite fucking rude about it. People tend to not understand and like to assume, yet my mind is intellectual so I invariably have a better view or argument.

i created a girl gang social meeting dedicated to jamming with fellow musicians in LA. It will be this weekend at my house. I have created the event page below. just click away and check it out.

But, basically this girl gang group is meant for people who want to get out there and make music. maybe you want to meet other musicians. maybe you want to start a band. maybe you have a song you want to collaborate on. It’s a space for females and males, for expression and exchange, for discussion and creation. Lets stop talking about what we are pissed about and get together and collaborate and make some change through music. Bring an instrument if you have one and lets go!

FANFUCKINGTABULOUS!!!!!!
Let me say I have stuck by your side since 2007 when MySpace was my number 1 source for music. I see the way you have grown & evolved as a woman. Being a strong human being is not just being intelligent & well liked for your beliefs BUT it’s also trying to help & teach those who are still having trouble finding who they really are. I have grown with you Kate & you truly are an idol. Unfortunately I was not able to send in a video for your GirlGangTV project because I am a student and I have been so busy with essays & studying. I truly hope you open up another segment so more girls can submit what GirlGang means to them. I would love to be a part of your revolution & inspire people to promote equality for all. Xoxo

Thank you so much for this Kate Nash!! I am a high schooler and I think it’s so important for everyone to fight for what they believe. My school just had a protest about ferguson and it was so inspirational to see so many students standing up for what they believe in. I just wish it would happen more!

I for one applaud your strength and courage to stand up for for what you believe in and bringing others together to do the same. Too many people believe that their voice wont be heard and dont say what they want or need to say. If you truly believe in someone or something you should speek up no matter the consequences. Sometimes by simply speeking up can defuse a situation or give someone the courage and strength they need to go on with their day. It is said that actions speek louder than words, but I think sometimes our words are our actions. Good luck in this important project!

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